Both are places where I've found rough-legged hawks during past winter invasions, and it seems were in the midst of a noticeable movement of these regal raptors, if not a wide-spread invasion.

After a couple of reports earlier in the month the past week produced sightings at several Connecticut locations, from coastal marshes to agricultural lands well-up the Connecticut River valley.

Rough-legged hawks, birds of the Arctic tundra, crave open habitats not only on their breeding grounds but when they move south in periodic irruptions tied to the supply of rodents in the far north.

I've always been partial to this Buteo, a realtive of our common and widespread red-tailed hawk. The rough-legged is all together a more elegant cretaure, delicate and long-winged when compared to the robust red-tail, but still a big, capable hunter of small prey.

Since I'd yet to come up with one close to home, I joinmed a couple of freinds last week on a birding foray that included the Rocky Hill Meadows, an open expanse of agricultural fields and turf farms along the Connecticut River south of Hartford.

Rough-legged hawks occur in both light and dark color forms, known as morphs, and we were aware that light bird had apparently settled in at Rocky Hill.

We followed the dirt farm road through the meadows, past a spot where the hawk had been seen recently, enjoying the presence of half a dozen red-tailed hawks and two bald eagles. We proceeded about as far into the meadows as we'd planned to go, and stopped at a spot where several red-taileds were in sight at one time.

As we scanned the area, one of my friends noticed a large raptor cut behind a clump of trees with a crow on its tail When it emerged we saw it was a light morph rough-legged hawk.

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